Grudge Match
by alienyouthct
Summary: "Just out of curiosity, Maria, you were going to tell us about the other Maximoff sister... when, exactly?"


Title: _Grudge Match  
_ Author: JoeHundredaire  
Rating: R/FR18  
Disclaimer: With a myriad of writers, artists, and editors, actual rights are a nightmare when you go near a comic book universe. Suffice it to say that Marvel Entertainment LLC owns all of the property printed in their comics, along with the television and movie adaptations of said same property. Not mine, don't sue, and so forth and so on.  
Summary: "Just out of curiosity, Maria, you were going to tell us about the other Maximoff sister... when, exactly?"  
Joe's Note: We actually came up with this idea back in like... wait, when was it officially confirmed that the twins would be in _Avengers: Age of Ultron_? Lexi and I might translate it into a two or three page fan comic at some point, but for now she's working on _Tales From the Hive_ and an unnamed _Mass Effect_ project, so I decided to do a strictly textual version. And if you haven't figured it out yet... spoilers. Lots and lots of spoilers for _Age of Ultron_.

* * *

"Is that the best you can do?"

Steve Rogers couldn't suppress the urge to flinch as Thor spread his arms wide and bellowed his challenge out to Ultron. One of the first things he'd learned back while fighting with the Howling Commandoes during World War II was that tempting fate tended to come back to bite you on the butt. And he was proven right once more as Ultron floated a bit closer before raising his left arm, a veritable army of his more simplistic black minions swarming across the landscape to rally behind him. "You had to ask."

Just like when Steve had been facing the Red Skull and his subordinates in HYDRA, Ultron decided to take a moment and monologue for them. "This... is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you..." Steve rolled his eyes at the showmanship of it all, Ultron trailing off as he gestured at the Avengers and then back at his own army. "...against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Enhanced assets incoming."

When nobody else appeared to react to Fury's words, Steve realized that they had been meant for his ears only. They had more enhanced assets? He furrowed his brow, mind racing to figure out who was available but not yet in play. Sam? There were two problems with that guess: Fury had said 'assets' plural and Sam was just one man... and while the man had been crucial in taking down Project: Insight, the upcoming fight would be punching far above his weight for the Falcon. Blonsky, maybe? He couldn't remember where that abomination had ended up after the fall of SHIELD...

Hoping to stall for a bit of time, Steve opened his mouth to reply but an unexpected voice - at least unexpected when it came to motivational speeches - piped up from behind him and to his left. "Like the old man said." Steve glanced back at Tony Stark, raising an eyebrow. "Together." Oh. So Tony actually did listen to him when he spoked. Interesting.

The Hulk let out one of his earthshaking roars, sparking Ultron's army into beginning their attack... and then the swarm of robots came to an abrupt halt as the torso of Ultron's main, silver body suddenly caved inward with a loud squeal of protesting metal. The robot had just enough time to look down at his crumpled chest in disbelief before his head was compacted to the size of an orange, causing his repulsor units to cut out and drop his remains to the ground with a loud thump. As the remaining robot bodies milled around uncertainly, one's blue eyes turned red and then it looked up at something that Steve couldn't see. "Well, that was certainly dramatic. But it's just one body. I can always make mo-"

"Shut up." The voice was young, female, and possessed the same Sokovian accent as Wanda and Pietro. Ultron's new body fared no better than the more advanced model, crumpling into a small ball of black metal with a screech, and then a young woman with brilliant green hair floated down into Steve's line of sight. It took him a few seconds to realize why she looked so familiar: not only did she look a lot like Wanda, her outfit was essentially a recolored version of the brunette's. Purple and green instead of red and black, but otherwise identical. Crossing her arms over her chest, the woman scowled at them before turning a bit to the right and thrusting a finger in their direction. "You two are in so much trouble."

It took them a few beats to figure out exactly who 'you two' were, and then the team split apart to open up a corridor between the newcomer and Wanda and Pietro. The speedster chuckled nervously before blurring across the three feet that separated him from his sister, giving Wanda a gentle push from behind and sending her stumbling forward a step. After shooting a reproachful look back at her brother, Wanda held her hands up in surrender as she slowly walked forward out of the church. "We were going to come back for you when it was safe, Lorna."

"Yes, because clearly I can't protect myself against metal men."

"Well, when we left we were fighting on his side and-"

"Metal suit, metal shield, metal hammer, metal-tipped arrows, metal bullets." Lorna floated across the ravaged landscape toward them, eventually touching down and closing the few remaining feet between herself and Wanda the conventional way. The two women stared at each other for a few seconds and then Lorna's hand came up, laying a blistering slap across Wanda's right cheek. "That's for leaving me behind." Before the brunette could react, Lorna fisted both hands in Wanda's hair and pulled her in for a long kiss. When they finally broke apart, Lorna grinned goofily before giving Wanda a peck on the nose. "And that's for... well, because."

Even as he opened his mouth to reply, Steve found himself cut off by the Avengers' other new Sokovian ally. Stepping forward, Pietro brought his hands up to his chest, a wounded expression on his face. "Nothing for me?"

Lorna let out a soft chuckle at that, leaning to the side a bit so that she could peer over Wanda's shoulder at the speedster. "After you abandoned me and then hid behind our sister when I was angry? Of course not." When Pietro sulked at that, Lorna raised one green brow and did her best to look innocent. "What? You did not see that coming?"

Resisting the urge to laugh at hearing the man's favorite line thrown back in his face - a temptation that someone off to his left gave into; quite possibly Clint - Steve reached up to the side of his head and cycled frequencies on his radio, hoping that the group's information czar had decided to keep monitoring it even while on the helicarrier with Fury. "Just out of curiosity, Maria, you were going to tell us about the other Maximoff sister... when, exactly?"

"Blame Stark... and yourself. If you'd cleaned up after yourselves properly when you took out Strucker and List, we would have known about her before Fury came poking around in the _Constellation_. He sent an asset in to see if we could collapse the fortress; she had to pull out but managed to liberate the younger Miss Maximoff along the way." There was a brief pause and then Maria's voice came back, a bit lower than before. "FRIDAY isn't configured to pass us video the way JARVIS was. I know it's not exactly professional, but it sounded like... did Lorna just... are the three of them..?"

Steve eyed Lorna and Wanda for a moment before nodding, only to roll his eyes when he realized that Maria wouldn't be able to see it. "It was exactly what it sounded like. Lorna and Wanda. And then Pietro implied that... you know what? It's none of our business. And I'm not just saying that because one of them just crushed Ultron with her mind, the other is 'weird', and their brother can knock us around like bowling pins using his speed."

That prompted a low chuckle from off to Steve's right, startling him into action. Releasing the maglock on his shield, he let it drop so he could grab it by the edge before whirling to slash it at... a brunette in a jumpsuit not too far removed from Natasha's original costume. Much to his surprise, though, the smile never left her face as she leapt into the air, landing nimbly atop his shield before backflipping off and landing right back where she'd started. "Constant vigilance, Captain." Pausing, she frowned. "Have they introduced you to _Harry Potter_ yet?"

"I understood that reference, yes." Looking the woman up and down, Steve frowned. She wasn't a child, but she was young. Younger than any of the Avengers, even with the addition of Wanda and Pietro. And now Lorna, possibly. She was also unfamiliar, which he found unusual. While he'd by no means met everyone in SHIELD before its fall, he'd studied files on all their notable assets... and yet her face was completely unknown to him. "And you are..?"

The brunette thought for a moment before shrugging and offering Steve her hand. "That's a good question these days. It's not really any more threatening than Mary Sue Poots, but... well, at least it's not Mary Sue Poots. So... Daisy Johnson, at your service."

Grasping the proffered hand, Steve took a moment to study the odd glove she was wearing - fingerless and black with bits of silver metal along the back of her hand - before shaking it slowly. "So, it looks like she can control metal. What are you bringing to the fight?"

Daisy smirked at that before stomping her right foot. "I'm a person of mass destruction in a pretty literal sense. Fury brought me along in case they needed a large area leveled in a large area leveled in a safer way than letting Stark bomb it." Turning away from him, she thrust her right palm in the direction of a piece of debris. The air in front of her rippled, and then the chunk of stone crumbled into millions of tiny pieces. "I think right now the plan is that if Stark can't figure out how to fix all this, everyone but me and Lorna evacuates and then I tear this bastard apart."

"Makes sense."

"What, you're not going to yell at me about my language? And yes, they sent out a memo; pretty much everyone knows by now." Daisy's laughter was loud enough to drown out Steve's sigh of annoyance; it really wasn't that funny, was it? "But yeah, I'm just here to take apart the flying city if you need it. You guys still need to defeat Ultron. Well, you and Lorna. And lemme tell you, that's gonna be a grudge match."

Oh right, the fight. To be honest, Steve had sort of assumed it would be over with the destruction of the main Ultron at Lorna's hands. Turning, he raised an eyebrow as he watched Lorna spit curses in Sokovian and gesture wildly, throwing a few Ultron bodies into the side of a nearby bus before picking up the entire bus with her powers and smashing it down on a clump of robots. "Exactly what did Ultron do to make her that angry?"

"I haven't had sex in four days! I could be having sex right now!"

Daisy grinned sheepishly, reaching up to rub the back of her neck as Lorna's bellows drifted back through the air to the church where they were gathered. "She's kinda holding a grudge about that."


End file.
